The Lake House
by Rivendell101
Summary: I didn't know what to think when my father suggested going to the lake house for the summer. I had never been there nor did I have a plan to ever go there. I thought I would just be having an average summer. Then I met him. I met the boy who was anything but average. And he changed my life forever. AU Nalu


**Summary: I didn't know what to think when my father suggested going to the lake house for the summer. I had never been there nor did I have a plan to ever go there. I thought I would just be having an average summer. Then I met him. I met the boy who was anything but average. And he changed my life forever.**

**This was originally supposed to be a one-shot for Tigerz101, but that didn't happen.**

**The Lake House**

I sighed dramatically as I stared at the skull covered in blue hair that was my father. "Remind me again why we're going to this old, rundown house?" I had no idea why we were going to this old house that dad loved to talk about. It didn't seem that great to me. Sure it might have been sentimental to a point, but how did that affect me? I had no connection to this old house.

"It's not just a house, Lucy," my father chided. "It's a lake house!"

Sounds magical… Way to not deny that it's rundown. "Ooh, wow!" I pretended to gasp in awe, "A lake house! That changes my opinion on everything!" If no one caught that it was sarcasm… an extremely heavy dose of sarcasm. I rolled my eyes and went back to staring out the window as I had been doing for the past six hours. I shifted in my spot after a moment, moving my thirteen year old brother, Romeo, who had fallen asleep next to me nearly an hour ago, letting him lean against my shoulder.

"Oh come on, Lucy!" Dad glanced at me in the rearview mirror, smiling brightly. "This is the house mom and I fell in love at," he explained.

One of my brows quirked at that and so I asked a single question. "And that pertains to me how?"

The person in the passenger's seat burst out laughing. "She sounds just like you, Macao," a brunette man with a beard and cigar, Wakaba, teased the other man.

Okay, so it might be a good idea to clear some things up. I, Lucy Conbolt, am not actually a Conbolt. Macao had adopted me when I was twelve after both of my parents had died, at separate times mind you, but that wasn't something I wanted to go into. Anyway Macao and his wife, I refuse to use her name because it would send a jolt of pain straight to my heart, had taken me in when Macao was thirty-eight, he was now forty-three; Romeo had been eight at the time. And now five years later I was going with my family—I included my father's friend Wakaba as family because he was almost always around—to a lake house. Macao's wife, my adoptive mom, had died nearly two years ago of cancer, I suppose that's why we were all taking this trip together.

My father rolled his eyes in a way very similar to what I had done moments earlier and I couldn't stop myself from bursting into loud peals of laughter. The jerking motion of my shoulders accidentally woke up Romeo, making him look up at me with bleary blue eyes and messy dark purple hair.

"Wha's goin' on?" my brother slurred, sleep still evident in his voice. I smiled and ruffled his hair, my laughter having ceased.

"Nothing, Buddy, just Dad and Wakaba being themselves," I explained. Romeo seemed to take that as a logical answer, because all he did was nod and drop his head back onto my shoulder.

"That sounds about right," he mumbled against my arm, not pulling his face away from the limb. "How much longer until we get there?" I relayed the question to our father since he, probably, couldn't understand what Romeo was saying. I don't even know how _I_ knew what Romeo was saying.

"About one more minute," Dad said after a small pause, most likely of thought.

"Seriously?" I asked. That was hard to believe, we were nowhere near a lake. Well, I didn't really know what the surrounding area was supposed to look like because I had no idea where we were at the moment, nor had I ever been to this "lake house". That and Dad was known as a jokester, playing pranks on anyone and everyone, you could never be too sure with him. "You're not just pulling our legs here are you?"

Dad shot me a grin in the mirror, his smile lighting up his face like fireworks, and I couldn't help but smile back. "I'm being dead serious," he replied. "In fact the house should be just up ahead.

At first I had questioned why we were all going on this family trip, it's not like we had ever tried to do anything like this before. Dad had smiled at me and he and Romeo had reminded me that I would be getting ready for college next summer and, therefore, wouldn't have the time to do anything with the two of them. I had firmly denied that fact. I would always be able to make time for my two favorite people in the world. Always. Besides, who else would I be hanging out with? My friends? I didn't have friends. I had never really gotten along well with other people in Magnolia, the town Macao, Romeo, and I lived in. The kids I went to school with loved to tease me mercilessly about the fact that I was adopted and therefore would never actually belong with the Conbolts. One time I had caught Romeo punching some older kid across the mouth for saying that I wasn't his sister. There were times when it was a struggle not to believe what they said. They also liked to talk about the unfortunate deaths of my parents, a fact that nearly cut me in two.

So I didn't talk to people and nobody made the effort to try and talk to me besides the insults and venomous words that spewed from the mouths of the fools that thought they knew who I was. Yeah, great way to make friends…

Not that it really mattered. I had to deal with them for nine more months and then I would be able to leave each and every one of them behind, and that was fine, they could kiss my ass for all I cared.

Anyway that's not what this summer was about. This summer was about me and my family and our life together. There was no ulterior motive.

I felt someone jab something into my side roughly and I turned my head to the right to give the culprit a sharp look. "Is there something I can help you with, Romeo?"

The young male gave me a cheeky grin. "You were spacing out again." I nodded in understanding.

For as long as I could remember I would always space out. One time I had spaced out while walking down the stairs and had to deal with a twisted ankle in response. But hey, I was in a car right now; there was no chance that I could miraculously fall out of the moving vehicle and plummet to my doom. Well… there was a small chance, but that would include me unbuckling myself, opening the door, and Romeo not trying to stop me. Three things that are highly unlikely.

I hope.

I could never be one hundred percent sure with Romeo.

"And here we are," Dad practically sang those four words out and Romeo and I both shot our gazes to the window, trying get a look at this "lake house".

It was… nice, surprisingly, almost rustic in a way. It was a one—two story log cabin, possibly oak, but I couldn't tell, that was on a hill. There was a deck branching off of the back of the house from the ground floor, remember the house is on a hill, therefore yes, there can be a deck going off of the ground floor, and an amazing view of the lake beyond. I could only assume that there was a dock somewhere closer to the water, but since I had never been here before I had no proof. All in all it was rather pretty. The house was gorgeous and, from the small glimpse I got, the lake was as well. There was a single house to the right of our own, similar in look and just as beautiful. To the left there was nothing but trees.

"There's a dock in the back, it's a bit old though so I'd be careful if you use it." Well that answered my question! I would definitely be using this dock. I had always loved the water and what was more beautiful than watching the sunset reflect off of the water? Plus it would be a good place to read and get away from everyone else for an hour or two.

Not that I wanted to ditch my family. They were just… a lot to handle at times. Romeo was a teenage boy meaning he had tons of energy and was prone to eating everything in sight and Dad—Macao—I wasn't sure what to call him sometimes—liked to tease me about my lack of romantic relationships… or relationships in general. He didn't do that to be mean, I knew very well that he was joking and it didn't bother me in the slightest, it was when the jokes made me blush and stutter that it became a problem. With Wakaba here dad was only going to be ten times worse as it was…

"Whoa…" Romeo mumbled from beside me. I turned to face him and, upon seeing his mouth hanging open in awe, burst into a fit of giggles. He shot me a mock glare and then started to laugh along with me, shrugging an arm around my shoulders. Romeo may have been four years younger than I was, but he still tried to act like the older brother. There was this one time I had gone on a date, it didn't end well, and Romeo had marched right up do the guy, telling him to take care of me and borderline _threatening_ the guy. I had never been more proud of him.

"Are you guys excited?" Dad gushed at us, staring at the house, pure happiness flooding his eyes. "I know I'm excited! Are you guys as excited as I am?" Sometimes it took me a moment to remember who the adult was in situations like this. Dad could be… well, he could be a five year old in a man's body if the situation called for it. Apparently this one did.

I smiled at the man-child. "Yeah, Dad, I think we're all excited," I said trying incredibly hard not to start laughing.

"Just not as excited as you," Romeo murmured under his breath, dropping his head against my shoulder with a huff. I snickered and tried to cover it up with a fake cough that had me chocking on my own spit. Smooth Lucy… Smooth. Romeo turned to me in alarm and whacked me on the back harshly. He shot me a concerned look before turning back to our father. "How long are we staying here again?"

Dad smiled at us as he parked the car, "Right up until the start of the school year." That got mixed reactions from Wakaba, Romeo, and me. Wakaba started to shout something about how "his wife was going to kill him" and how Macao "never told him we would be gone that long". Romeo smiled brightly and leaned over me to try and press him face against the window. And me? I didn't know what to think. Sure it's not like I had anyone waiting for me back in Magnolia, so that wasn't a problem, but I didn't have anyone waiting for me here either. Just three guys that acted like five year olds half the time. I guess I should be happy though. I was spending my summer with three of the people I care about most.

"This is going to be so much fun," Romeo gushed, smashing his face even harder up against the glass. This would have been perfectly okay with me if he wasn't _sitting on my lap_!

"Okay, knock it off!" I hissed at him, peeling the thirteen year old off of me. He shot me a happy grin and got off of me bolting out the other door and nearly falling on his face. I—being the mature adult I am—calmly opened my door and got out of the car, unlike the male that was in the backseat with me.

The first thing I noticed when I stepped out of the car was the obvious smell of smoke. Not the bad "oh no—my food is on fire" or the "I'm a smoker get over it" kind, no, it was the woodsy, campfire smell. The kind you sit around with family, telling stories and reminiscing the good times. It was a good smoky smell. The kind I had easily fallen in love with when I was younger. With a large smile I realized I was still in love with it.

I shook my head lightly and turned around to pull my bag out of the back of the car. Romeo followed soon after, hoisting his heavy bag out of the car and then running towards the lake house, tripping as his bag tangled with his legs. I laughed as I walked past him, scooping up his bag as I did so.

"Oh," Romeo said sarcastically. "So you help the bag and not me? I love you too, Luce." I rolled my eyes and continued walking, ignoring the grumbling boy behind me. I stopped when I got to the front door, realizing that I didn't have a key to get into said house. I turned around to shout for Dad, when a pair of keys nearly hit me in the face.

"What the hell!?" I managed to grab the keys before they hit the ground. I glared at my dad. "You don't just throw sharp objects at people!" I screamed at him. He only laughed and waved me off. Gee thanks for the concern Dad. I shook my head and spun back around, shoving one of the keys into the door's lock and giving the silver knob a twist.

The door unlocked with a 'click' and I paused for a moment.

No turning back.

"Are you going to open the door or just stand there looking at it?" someone asked from behind me. I turned around, still holding the doorknob in my hand. My eyes met Romeo's, who was smirking like a little devil, and I sent him small glare, rolling my eyes at him.

"Oh, can it brat," I waved him off, laughing at the highly offended look he threw me. Before he could complain I ruffled his hair playfully, making him pout at me.

Then I threw open the door.

* * *

**AN: I'm sorry this took so long! It was just sort of sitting on my computer like "hug me, hug me!" and I was all like "NO", but its better now. I finally got around to finishing chapter one!**


End file.
